Food allergy test in chronic urticaria adult patients: A cross sectional study

Introduction: Chronic urticaria is a distressing cutaneous allergic condition with diverse clinical presentations which can affect the physical and psychological aspects of both adult and paediatric group of patients. Food allergens are considered to be one of the common aetiology in adult chronic urticaria patients. The best way to prevent it is by taking specific measures to avoid or reduce the consumption of offending food allergens that causes signs and symptoms, suspected food allergies should be evaluated clinically, diagnosed with skin prick test as well as blood test and treated by a qualified medical professional. Materials and Methods: This is a cross –sectional study conducted in 100 adult chronic urticaria patients visiting the out-patient department of dermatology, Azeezia medical college, Kollam from a period of December 2017 to December 2018. This study was conducted to know the prevalence of food allergens in chronic urticarial patients with the help of skin prick test with 32 food antigens. Results: Almost 99% of patients with chronic urticaria had some sorts of food allergy. Major offending food allergens were Haldi (16.2%), cashew nut (14.1%), mustard (12.1%), saunf (12.1%), milk and chicken (11.1%), garlic, ginger, gram, apple and fish (9.1%), banana and coffee (8.1%). Conclusion: Food allergy is one of the common cause for cutaneous distressing diseases like chronic Urticaria, which can impair the mental and physical well-being of patients. Specific diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of the above mentioned condition can improve the general aspects of urticarial patients. Main offending food allergens were Haldi (16.2%), cashew nut (14.1%), mustard (12.1%), saunf (12.1%), milk and chicken (11.1%), garlic, ginger, gram, apple and fish (9.1%), banana and coffee (8.1%). Skin prick test is one of the cheapest and fairly effective tool in the diagnosis of Chronic Idiopathic urticaria. Keywords: Food allergy, Chronic urticaria (CU), Allergy te